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Seeing the Wild Hunt was thought to presage some catastrophe such as war or plague, or at best the death of the one who witnessed it. Mortals getting in the path of or following the Hunt could be kidnapped and brought to the land of the dead.
As Kris Kershaw has exhaustively documented in her monograph, "The One-Eyed God: Odin and the Indo-Germanic Mannerbünde", the Wild Hunt was a historical phenomenon among all Indo-European peoples. Its Germanic manifestation was the Hari (later, Herilaz, or Heruli in Latin), nomadic, ecstatic wolf-warriors dedicated to Wodan. Comprised of wolf-packs of older trainers and retinues of younger men, the Hari ritually raided villages from May Day to Samhain ( Halloween), usually around the new moons. These ritual raids were viewed as a way to keep the world in harmony, in balance. As humans became more "civilized" and settled (rather than foraging gatherers of the past), these raids by wild men of the forest and marsh counterbalanced the "unnaturalness" of the settled village and city life.
The Norse god Odin in his many forms, astride his eight-legged steed Sleipnir, was deeply associated with the Wild Hunt, particularly in Scandinavia. Odin acquired another aspect (to add to his many other names and attributes) in this context, that of the Wild Huntsman, along with Frigg. The passage of this hunt was also referred to as Odin's Hunt or Asgardareia. In Celtic countries, the Wild Hunt was the hosting of the Sidhe, the fairies; its leaders also varied, but they included GwydionIn Celtic mythology, Gwydion was a son of Beli and Danu. He helped Gilfaethwy rape Goewin, Math ap Mathonwy's foot-holder. He accomplished this by stealing Pryderi of Dyfed's pigs, thus sending Math away to fight a war. Gwydion and Gilfaethwy were suppose, NuadaIn Goidelic mythology, Nuada was one of the Tuatha de Danaan. He was a god of the sea, children and childbirth, the sun, beauty, healing, sorcery and poetry and writing. One of the four great treasures of the Tuatha de Danaan was his sword, Fragarach, whi, and Herne the HunterIn English mythology, Herne the Hunter is a ghost or monster associated with Windsor Great Park. It is frequently claimed he is a manifestation of the Horned God based on connecting his name to the Gaulish deity Cernunnos which was shortened to Cerne then.
Historical figures known to have participated in the Wild Hunt were St. GuthlacGuthlac ( 683- 714) of Crowland, Lincolnshire, England is a saint. As a young man, he fought in the army of Ethelred of Mercia and subsequently entered a monastery. His sister is also venerated as Saint Pega. Hagiography Legends which surround Guthlac pre (683-714), and Hereward the Wake (died ca 1070).
The myth of the Wild Hunt has through the ages been modified to accommodate other gods and folk heroes, among them King ArthurKing Arthur is an important figure in the mythology of Britain. He is the central character in Arthurian legends (known as the Matter of Britain), although there is disagreement about whether Arthur, or a model for him, ever actually existed and in the ea and, more recently, in a DartmoorDartmoor is a National Park in the centre of the English county of Devon. It covers 368 square miles (953 km²). Introduction The granite upland dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history, and the landscape is both dramatic, and bleak. The r folk legend, Sir Francis Drake.
In Quebec, the legend of the “ chasse-galerie”, or witched canoe, is a favorite.
Compare it to another ghostly troop: the Santa Compaña in Galicia.